Princeton Bans Freshmen From Fraternities, Sororities

By John Lauerman -
Aug 24, 2011

Princeton University President
Shirley Tilghman is banning freshmen from joining fraternities
and sororities as of the 2012-2013 year after an internal report
said the groups encourage exclusivity and alcohol abuse.

Members of sororities and fraternities will also be
forbidden from any form of “rush,” or recruitment, of freshman
students, the Princeton, New Jersey-based school said in a
statement on its website. Upperclassmen won’t be stopped from
joining the groups, said Cass Cliatt, a university spokeswoman.

While about 15 percent of Princeton undergraduates
participate in sororities and fraternities, the organizations
aren’t recognized by the university, don’t have residential
houses and have been prohibited during much of the school’s
history. The report on campus social life produced by a 13-
member panel of students, faculty and staff last year, said that
the groups lead students to narrow, rather than expand, their
set of friendships.

“We have found that they can contribute to a sense of
social exclusivity and privilege and socioeconomic
stratification among students,” said Vice President for Campus
Life Cynthia Cherrey and Dean of Undergraduate Students Kathleen
Deignan, according to a letter to students cited on the website.
“In some cases they place an excessive emphasis on alcohol and
engage in activities that encourage excessive and high-risk
drinking.”

Second Semester

Fraternities and sororities, often called “Greek”
societies because they’re named for Greek letters, don’t limit
students’ contact with others, and in fact help them expand
their relationships, said Jake Nebel, a Princeton junior who is
master of the school’s Alpha Epsilon Pi chapter.

“Developing close friendships is both difficult and
important during freshman year, and Greek societies serve that
purpose for the large number of students who are interested in
them,” he said in an e-mail response to questions.

Supporters of the societies suggested a compromise that
would allow freshmen to join the groups in their second semester
of school, rather than banning participation for the whole year,
Nebel said. He said he didn’t know why that compromise was
rejected. He said his chapter will continue to grow because it
fills an important role for students.

Eating Clubs

Social and residential life at Princeton should center on
its residential colleges and eating clubs, Tilghman said in a
letter to students. The eating clubs, which provide private,
off-campus dining facilities for students, have also been
criticized for high prices and exclusivity. Tilghman herself has
said the clubs select students too “homogeneously,” and
Woodrow Wilson, president of Princeton before becoming U.S.
President, proposed in 1907 that the clubs should be eliminated.

As an elite educational institution that admitted 8.4
percent of its applicants this year, Princeton shouldn’t
criticize the student societies for their selectivity, said
Brendan McCurdy, a national trustee of the Sigma Phi fraternity.
Sigma Phi hasn’t had a chapter at Princeton since the societies
were banned in the 1800s, said McCurdy, a loan officer at
JPMorgan Chase & Co. in New York who graduated from Hamilton
College in Clinton, New York, in 1980.

Fraternities and sororities were established to build
leadership skills and lifelong bonds, and colleges should work
with the societies to achieve those goals, McCurdy said in a
telephone interview.

‘Not Our Purpose’

“We have a good time, but that’s not our purpose,” he
said. “Colleges should recognize that there’s good that can be
derived from the potential development of relationships that can
benefit the college, the student, and the fraternity.”

Princeton’s ban on sororities and fraternities lasted about
100 years, and lapsed unofficially during the 1940s when the
college stopped enforcing it, Cliatt said in an interview. While
some who contributed to the report on social life have said that
prohibition should be reinstated, the university is allowing the
groups to continue for students who find that they fill a role
in their lives at Princeton.

“We determined that we’re not ready to dramatically change
the character of social life at Princeton by attempting to
integrate Greek life,” Cliatt said.

Tilghman consulted with university trustees before making
her decision, Cliatt said. Implementation of the ban will be
worked out during the coming school year and will include input
from the committee of students, faculty and staff that
recommended the move.